On Wednesday, Republicans begin the potentially risky strategy of dismantling the health care reform law piece by piece.

Two House committees will start their dissection of the law, examining its cost and its impact on the economy. Republicans in both chambers also plan to introduce dozens of bills this week aimed at rolling back various parts of the reform law.

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But a new poll suggests that the strategy might not go over well with the public, even though opposition to the health care reform law is at a record high.

Fifty percent of Americans have unfavorable views of the law, according to a joint survey by The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health. Opposition to the law jumped 9 percentage points from last month and is the highest since April, when Kaiser began surveying the question every month.

Yet only 33 percent of respondents like the idea of defunding the legislation, and 62 percent disapprove.

There is stronger support — 43 percent — for straight repeal, which is virtually impossible while Democrats control the Senate and the White House. Forty-seven percent of the public wants to either expand the law or keep it in place (28 percent and 19 percent, respectively).

The poll results show just how difficult a dance Republicans could have ahead of them: While the reform law isn’t popular, neither is their time-consuming and difficult plan to repeal it.

But House Republicans plan to attack the legislation on all fronts regardless, whether it’s through defunding, repealing small parts of the law or oversight hearings.

“If you ask the American people if Congress should spend money on an army of new [Internal Revenue Service] employees to enforce job-destroying mandates, the opposition would be near universal,” said Michael Steel, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). “House Republicans have listened to the American people, kept our promise and voted to repeal this catastrophically flawed law. Now, we’re working to replace it with real reforms to lower health care costs.”

The strategy may prove successful in rallying the far-right Republican base, which wants the legislation taken down at all costs. But it could drive away independents, said Drew Altman, president and chief executive officer of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

“They’re walking a high wire,” Altman said. “They could very well satisfy the tea party base, but they run the risk of alienating the broader public that’s tired of Washington politics.”

Republicans’ initial target is the cost of the legislation.

The House Budget Committee’s first witness Wednesday is Richard Foster, chief actuary at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. His estimates about the financial impact of the reform law have been twisted by both parties to make their respective cases about the reform law.

Also Wednesday, the Ways and Means Committee will hear from Austan Goolsbee, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

Republicans hope to use both experts’ testimony to underscore their argument that the health care reform law is too costly for the federal government and individuals.

Readers' Comments (32)

With everything wrong out there the GOP can only think about repealing the Healthcare bill. I guess taking care of the Insurance companies profits are more important. Whatever happen to creating jobs getting the debt down and cutting spending. They cried about the wasted 2 years by the Dems on getting this healthcare bill passed and not jobs. I do not believe November 2nd was about repealing the healthcare bill. Once again the GOP has shown us how clueless they are to what we the voters want done.

As usual, the Republicans' primary goal is to protect the insurance companies. The president offered last night to work with Republicans to improve the healthcare legislation; but since the Republicans have no real ideas to offer, they are not interested.

As usual, the Republicans' primary goal is to protect the insurance companies. The president offered last night to work with Republicans to improve the healthcare legislation; but since the Republicans have no real ideas to offer, they are not interested.

I believe Republicans plan to make repeal of our new healthcare law the centerpiece of their 2012 campaign. I bet they cry "uncle" and give it up before 2012 rolls around, though. It is going to make them vulnerable to charges of wasting time and taxpayers' dollars, and shows them as stuck in the past and beholden to special interests. American voters will be scratching their heads and wondering why Republicans aren't moving forward swiftly to address the many problems facing our country. After wondering, then Americans will get frustrated and angry and Republicans will give up the ghost (but only then). It rightly makes them seem backward-looking and President Obama the forward-looking adult. It's a bad Republican political strategy.

Why are they waisting their time of this? WHERE ARE THE JOBS? Where are the plans to create jobs? The GOP is skating on THIN ICE if they continue this frivilous plan. IT WILL NOT PASS THE SENATE!! What part of that don't they get? Fix the stuff in the bill that will bring down costs, get everyone covered and hold the insurance companies accountable and MOVE ON to other things LIKE CREATING JOBS!. The country doens't want a FULL REPEAL, they want what is already passed FIXED! Currently congress has a 26% approval rating meanwhile Obama has a 52% approval rating. The GOP in congress will have a short vacation if they continue this crusade to repeal a bill that has no shot of passing.

Why are they waisting their time of this? WHERE ARE THE JOBS? Where are the plans to create jobs? The GOP is skating on THIN ICE if they continue this frivilous plan. IT WILL NOT PASS THE SENATE!! What part of that don't they get? Fix the stuff in the bill that will bring down costs, get everyone covered and hold the insurance companies accountable and MOVE ON to other things LIKE CREATING JOBS!. The country doens't want a FULL REPEAL, they want what is already passed FIXED! Currently congress has a 26% approval rating meanwhile Obama has a 52% approval rating. The GOP in congress will have a short vacation if they continue this crusade to repeal a bill that has no shot of passing.

Why are they waisting their time of this? WHERE ARE THE JOBS? Where are the plans to create jobs? The GOP is skating on THIN ICE if they continue this frivilous plan. IT WILL NOT PASS THE SENATE!! What part of that don't they get? Fix the stuff in the bill that will bring down costs, get everyone covered and hold the insurance companies accountable and MOVE ON to other things LIKE CREATING JOBS!. The country doens't want a FULL REPEAL, they want what is already passed FIXED! Currently congress has a 26% approval rating meanwhile Obama has a 52% approval rating. The GOP in congress will have a short vacation if they continue this crusade to repeal a bill that has no shot of passing.

In July of 1798, Congress passed - and President John Adams signed - "An Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen." The law authorized the creation of a government operated marine hospital service and mandated that privately employed sailors be required to purchase health care insurance.

Keep in mind that the 5th Congress did not really need to struggle over the intentions of the drafters of the Constitutions in creating this Act as many of its members were the drafters of the Constitution.

And when the Bill came to the desk of President John Adams for signature, I think it's safe to assume that the man in that chair had a pretty good grasp on what the framers had in mind....

First, it created the Marine Hospital Service, a series of hospitals built and operated by the federal government to treat injured and ailing privately employed sailors. This government provided healthcare service was to be paid for by a mandatory tax on the maritime sailors (a little more than 1% of a sailor's wages), the same to be withheld from a sailor's pay and turned over to the government by the ship's owner. The payment of this tax for health care was not optional. If a sailor wanted to work, he had to pay up.

This is pretty much how it works today in the European nations that conduct socialized medical programs for its citizens - although 1% of wages doesn't quite cut it any longer.

The law was not only the first time the United States created a socialized medical program (The Marine Hospital Service) but was also the first to mandate that privately employed citizens be legally required to make payments to pay for health care services. Upon passage of the law, ships were no longer permitted to sail in and out of our ports if the health care tax had not been collected by the ship owners and paid over to the government - thus the creation of the first payroll tax in our nation's history.

When a sick or injured sailor needed medical assistance, the government would confirm that his payments had been collected and turned over by his employer and would then give the sailor a voucher entitling him to admission to the hospital where he would be treated for whatever ailed him.

While a few of the healthcare facilities accepting the government voucher were privately operated, the majority of the treatment was given out at the federal maritime hospitals that were built and operated by the government in the nation's largest ports.

This isn't support of an individual mandate, it's socialist--in the true sense of the word. You were forced to pay taxes in order to gain access to a government run hospital.

The place this is going to get another hearing that will straighten these liars out once and for all is in the senate. chuck schumer will not let the likes of sour puss mc connell or jim demented off the hook with a simple vote. want some swiss with that ham act mitch? lets get back to the reason the affordable health bill was written.

Clearly the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will be tinkered with, as even these funny people explain: http://youtu.be/kzAOMySit8k. But the underlying objectives are critical, as this site shows with simple Q&A: www.reformreality.org.

It would be nice to have a health care reform plan that is written with both sides in the room

Yes it would be nice to have health care reform plan that is written with both sides of the room. What are the Republican's plans? Why did they not come up with any kind of health care bill under GWB administration or any other Republican administration for that matter? The Republicans don't have any ideas of thier own, but yet they want to stop Obama's health care plan.

If you have NOT read the bill(s) or the CBO/CMMS analyses, here's everything you need to know about the bill:

1. You WILL lose your coverage.

2. The bill DOES add to the deficit: CBO scoring of Reid's bill, p 15 - After the first ten years cost estimates are NOT MEANINGFUL (their words) as uncertainties are simply too great.

3. Health Care WILL BE RATIONED: same doc, p 19 - "It is unclear whether such a reduction in the growth rate (HALF TRILLION IN MEDICARE CUTS) COULD be achie ved, and if so, whether it would be accomplished through increased efficiencies in the delivery of health care (SURE) or would REDUCE ACCESS TO CARE OR DIMINISH THE QUALITY OF CARE.

4. Senior, disabled, handicapped and very young w/ significant medical problems will NOT be happy w/ the rationing imposed by the ACA and the Independent Payment Advisory Board. Quality Adjusted Life Years: if the extension of life, or the improvement in the quality of life resulting from a "treatment" is deemed INEFFECTIVE (i.e. costs too much given the outcome) the treatment will NOT be covered.

ACA IS A DISASTER. Assume that every time a politician starts telling you how great the bill is, he/she is LYING. You'll be right a lot more often than not.

"I WILL INSURE THAT NO GOVERNMENT BUREAUCRAT GETS BETWEEN YOU AND THE CARE THAT YOU NEED" -- President Barack Obama, autumn, 2009.

In order for the President to stand by this promise it'll be necessary to repeal Section 10320 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) which establishes an up-front rationing panel without actually using the "R" word. Here's how it works: Section 10320 of the ACA sets up a panel of unelected persons who'll be appointed -- that's important, i.e., that they'll be appointed, responsible to the person who bestowed the appointment. They will not be responsible to the public at large. This panel will be called the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) and will decide what qualifies as allowable diagnostic tests and what qualifies as acceptable treatment -- what you and your personal doctor think will not count enough to overrule this board of unelected bureaucrats. The IPAB will do precisely what the president promised wouldn't be done. The IPAB will stand between you and the care you and your doctor decided is needed.

Legislation to repeal this section of the bill is already in the works. Section 10320 deserves to be repealed because it flies in the face of President Obama's promise not to let government bureaucrats get in the way of the care you and your doctor decided was needed. The insurance companies won't be satisfied with this adjustment because what they want is to return to the days when so-called pre-existing conditions served as an excuse to cancel your policy.

It would be nice to have a health care reform plan that is written with both sides in the room.

Obamacare is bad, it should be repealed. Then we can try for a plan without Death Panels.

the moon is green it should be eaten ... see i can say nonsense too

clearly you should offer a citation for the death panels as i have read it from cover to cover and have not found anything about death panels yet .... but i know for a fact insurance companies operate to not pay for medical services ... perhaps that is what you mean by death panels?